Vint Cerf

Sneak attacks and dinosaurs with pea-sized brains: the WCIT rhetoric keeps on coming

by .Nxt | 29 Nov 2012 |


So which one are you, ITU?

Just when you thought the shouting over the WCIT meeting couldn't get any more shrill…

The conference, run the by the ITU and reviewing the 1988 International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), starts next week.

But rather than discussions growing more sober and serious as discussions grow close (and despite some IT journalists' efforts to provide honest summaries) the past week has seen an increasingly aggressive stance from US-based groups who fear the conference will adversely impact the Internet… and their influence on the Internet.

The normally diplomatic Vint Cerf (Father of the Internet, ex-ICANN chair and Google's "chief Internet evangelist") stole headlines when he used a Reuters interview to launch an attack on the ITU itself.

Vint Cerf testimony at WCIT Congressional hearing

Testimony of Vinton Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google Inc.

Before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Hearing on "International Proposals to Regulate the Internet"

May 31, 2012

Chairman Walden, Ranking Member Eshoo, and members of the Subcommittee.

Thank you for inviting me to testify today. My name is Vint Cerf and I serve currently as Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google Inc. I also serve as a Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), which last week elected me as its president, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, and as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

The glitch that stole Christmas

by Kieren McCarthy | 1 May 2012 |

ICANN's failure to deal with a flaw in its computer software speaks to a bigger problem with the organization itself

It was supposed to be ICANN's swansong. A program more successful than anyone had dared to expect. An expansion of the Internet that would put the organization at the heart of a revolution; where anyone could apply for any Internet extension they wished.

Even considering its size and scope, the new gTLD project had not been an easy ride. Delays measured in years rather than months. Heated policy debates. High-level politics. And then, just weeks before it was due to go live, a Washington broadside that saw no less than three national newspapers, two Congressional hearings and one highly critical FTC report, all say the same thing: hold off, you're not ready. Despite the pressure, and even admitting that the program was unfinished, ICANN threw itself into the hands of fate and launched on 12 January.

Speech from Ira Magaziner at ICANN opening ceremony

The following speech was given by Ira Magaziner at ICANN's opening ceremony in San Francisco, 14 March 2011.

Speech from Larry Strickling at ICANN opening ceremony

The following speech was given by US Commerce Secretary Larry Strickling at ICANN's opening ceremony in San Francisco, 14 March 2011.

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